Decaying Trees
by Pumashirt Panthershirt
Summary: In a forest clearing, full of decaying trees, is a shadow of a girl everyone once knew and loved. She was never the same since the incident, but so wasn't he. (Rated T because I'm paranoid and for slight dark themes. Written for a challenge by DJ everything. One-shot).


**Hey guys! This is another one-shot for a challenge by DJ everything. The challenge is to make a one-shot about Dipper being a vampire. So here's my attempt at the challenge! Thanks again to DJ everything for making this challenge! Hope you guys enjoy!**

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><p>He was never the same since the incident, and I hated him for it. The days went by, uneventful, with no more adventures or even strolls through the town. All he did for the whole day was stay locked in his little corner of the room and groan. His whimpers full of agony, pain, and longing shattered me to the bone. Every single howl of pain, soul-wrenching, as I watched my brother sit in an eternal touch of death, never to fully grasp its cold, dark hands. I hate him for what he did for me. I hate him for not blaming me, for forgiving me because of the good brother he is. I hate him for what I did. I hate him because I can't handle the fact that it was entirely my fault that he ended up like this. My fault only.<p>

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><p>I remember that night like it was yesterday, but how could I ever forget. I was bothering Dipper as usual while he was reading his journal...<p>

"Hey Dipping Sauce! Watcha reading about? Some dork monster like that squash we tried to find the other day?" I asked as I laid on my bed backwards, letting my hair fall down to the ground.

"Hmm? No, and that squash was not some dork monster! He was actually pretty helpful in-" Dipper argued.

"Pfft, sure Dip. When are we gonna get to the awesome supernaturals here?" I asked while playing with one of my plushies. "For example, how about werewolves or vampires? Ooh, especially vampires! Don't they have a page on them somewhere in that journal?"

"Uh, I don't know Mabel... They only come out at night and we've only ventured out in the forest during the day. It's already dangerous and risky to go out there with daylight, but going at night is just pushing it the slightest. You understand right?" my twin tried to reason. If only I had listened to him then...

"I understand you're a big chicken. Come on, Dip! We've never done anything this exciting since that giant fight with Gideon you had! And I wasn't even really involved with that one! Just let me have this! Please Dipper!" I begged, staring at him with the biggest puppy eyes I could muster. I saw him look at the journal and sigh. I cheered internally, knowing I had won the dispute,"Thank you, Dipper! And who knows, you might learn something about the forest that you can't during the day!"

"Yea, I guess you're right.. We'll go as soon as I can find the page about vampires and get some supplies to protect ourselves, just in case," Dipper slightly muttered to himself, already making a mental list.

"Alright, you worry wort. I'm gonna find my cutest sweater! Who knows? There might be some keepers out there!" I teased, while rummaging through my closet full of wool turtlenecks. After about thirty minutes of preparing and checking and double checking, Dipper was finally ready to go.

"Finally! Come one! Let's go!" I quickly ran down the stairs and out the back door.

"Mabel! Wait up! I need to grab some garlic from the kitchen!" Dipper yelled from inside.

"No need for those! We already have the wooden stakes! We should be fine! And besides I'm already walking farther and farther away!" I yelled back while slowly taking steps closer and closer to the line of pine trees that surrounded the shack. I heard my twin sigh and giggled in victory. When Dipper eventually caught up with me, he stocked me up with the essentials for "survival": a wooden stake, a canteen of Mabel Juice (well for me at least), and some G & F's trail mix.

"I would've added some garlic for extra protection if someone hadn't rushed me," my twin started when I glared at him," but I, uh, don't even think Grunkle Stan even has any at the Shack anyway!"

"Nice save, bro-bro," I said while trying to conceal my giggles at him trying to save my feelings. "So where exactly are we going?" I asked, chomping on my trail mix.

"Well, according to the journal," Dipper stopped and pulled out his journal," we need to find this cave, which is owned by the only known vampire in Gravity Falls. His name is Duke and he's very- Huh, its smudged here... Well, uhh, we're getting pretty close. But I don't know if we should do this anymore Mabel. We're pretty far from the Shack and getting lost at night would be the worst course of action. Are you really sure you want to see this vampire?" he stuttered, fear evident in his eyes.

"Positive! To the cave of Duke the Vampire!" I marched on, completely ignorant to my brother's warnings. I heard him gulp as he continued with me. A little knot of doubt started to grow in the back of my mind, but I waved it off. _Don't worry Mabel! Dipper's just being paranoid as usual! Just keep pushing forward and everything will go perfectly like it always does!_

We push on in our venture for a few more minutes when we reach a clearing of dead pine trees. I gulped, just the slightest bit nervous. Tall, lean shadows crisscrossed their way in the clearing, all leading up to a giant cave delved into a dull grey mountain.

"Well, uh, h-here we are M-Mabel... G-get you're w-wooden stake ready, in c-case this Duke is a-aggressive," Dipper stuttered, shaking in fear. His fist was clenched tightly against the wooden stake, knuckles white. I took a deep breath and walked closer towards the cave.

"Duke the Vampire? Are you in there?" I tentatively called out, my voice shaking the slightest. I felt a whoosh and a cold hand land on my shoulder. I immediately grew tense with fear as I heard Dipper yelp in surprise and pure horror.

"Hmm, visitors. I wasn't expecting any. It's been so long since people have visited in time for dinner," a soft voice whispered into my ears. I started to whimper, terrified and wanting to go home.

"D-don't you dare touch my sister!" I heard Dipper yell at the shadow looming over me. Duke swiftly switched his attention off of me and on to my twin. He left my side and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was even holding.

"Oh, so you're the judgmental one of the pair? Pity. Why does everyone think I'm going to eat someone when I say dinner?" the vampire complained playfully.

"Probably because they're right," Dipper snapped at Duke. I saw the vampire's eyes flash red in anger for a second before drifting off back to its regular, pearly white.

"You should leave before I kill you, boy. Your sister will stay with me for dinner," Duke hissed back at my brother.

"I'm not leaving her side!"

"You're not invited. Now come on, Sweater. Let's go before you're companion tempts me again." I can barely remember what happened in the few moments before the incident. I think I tried attempting to stab Duke in the heart with my stake, but he dodged it. I felt myself get pinned against a tree with red eyes glaring at me, rage and hunger lingering in the vampire's eyes. He was about to pierce my neck with his shiny incisors when a battle cry from the side rang out through the night. I fell to the ground as Duke released me, hitting my head on the tree on the way.

I could barely see my hand in front of me, my head rushing, a warm liquid flowing down my forehead. I heard a blood-curdling scream and a thud before I fell unconscious.

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><p>I remember waking up, my head pounding. The cold floor underneath me dug into my back, making my whole backside ache all over. I slowly got up, wincing in pain. I saw the sun rising up over the horizon, spilling its golden rays onto the forest floor. "Dipper?" I slightly whispered. When I finally got to a comfortable sitting position, I immediately scanned my surroundings for my twin. The search did not take long.<p>

I held myself from screaming when I saw him. He was lying there, but he wasn't. He was alive, but he was dead. But what he was was my brother, lying on the ground, blood spilling from his mortified arm which was connected to a barely breathing white as snow body. Not too far was a pile of dust with a wooden stake in the middle of it. "Dipper?!" I called out to him, growing more worried by the second. I watched as his breathing got quicker and shorter to the deep and slow to where, for just a few heart-stopping seconds, not at all. It scared me. I slowly inched closer, my own bodily pains erased from my mind as I witnessed my classified as dead brother.

I picked him up as carefully as I could manage, if you count half dragging against rocks and sticks careful. By the time I finally reached the end of the clearing with the Shack in sight, I was ready to pass out. "GRUNKLE STAN! WENDY! SOos..." I halfheartedly called out, before falling to the ground unconscious.

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><p>I woke up to muffled voices and dim lights. My head pounded as pain and aching coursed through the rest of my body. "Ugh..." I slightly groaned to myself. I heard an excited, "She's awake!" before I was bombarded by the presence of familiar faces. I looked up at the faces of a concerned yet happy Soos and a solemn face of Grunkle Stan. The handy man slowly helped me up to a sitting position. I was on Grunkle's Stan's yellow recliner, flashes of the show<em>Tiger Fist <em>showing on the television. _  
><em>

"Mabel...-" my grunkle started.

"Where's Dipper?!" I asked, immediately worried as I regained my memories of the night before.

"He's... he's upstairs..." the con man managed to choke out. He then walked back to his own room, closing the door softly. I looked at Soos, who gave me a reassuring smile. He helped me up and watched as I slowly walked up the stairs to my shared room with Dipper, making sure I wouldn't fall. I felt my heart beating against my chest, the thought of seeing my twin broken and destroyed terrified me. He was always so strong, even after his inner battle with Bill on the day of my Sock Opera. Seeing him vulnerable and weak like this scared me to the bone. My warrior and protector crippled to the point of no recovery.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. He was huddled in the deep corner of his bed, shivering like crazy. I saw the piles of blankets wrapped around him, not doing their job of keeping a longing soul like himself the warmth he needs. He notices my presence and looks at me. I hate to admit it, but my own brother, my own flesh and blood, scared me. His eyes were sunken in and bloodshot, his hair an utter mess, and his skin a deathly shade of white. But even through it all, he smiled at me, though it was weak, it gave enough warmth to make the blankets around combust into flames.

"Dipper.. I'm so sorry! It's all my fault that this happened!" I choked out, the dam of tears I desperately tried to control spilling out.

"Mabel! It's okay! It's not your fault! This is not and never will be your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have been hasty and attacked like I did. I should've grabbed the garlic earlier, so you wouldn't have to wait. I'm the one to blame for whatever happens to me, okay?" he tried to assure me, his voice coming out as a hoarse whisper. I stare at my brother, baffled. _How could he blame himself for this?! I'm the one who wanted to go on this adventure! I'm the one who rushed before he was completely ready! I'm the one who didn't care about his multiple warnings! _I tried to convince him over and over again that it wasn't his fault but mines, but he argued back, saying the complete opposite of my persecutions.

Our conversation escalated to a point where Dipper just stopped. He started coughing and asked for water, his shivers returning. I quickly got it, worried sick. He tried to gulp it down, but it just wouldn't swallow. His body just refused to take the liquid, the one necessity of all life. The same thing for regular food too. Nothing went down, it just stayed in his mouth until he spit it out. Eventually, Dipper just gave up. He was always on his journal, looking for answers about his state, and the when the truth was revealed, it shattered his ever-so-determined spirit.

I remember being in the room when he started bawling his eyes out. I was by his side in an instant, asking him continuously about what was wrong. He continued to sob, his words unable to come out, so he just pointed at the page. I took the mahogany volume from his shaking hands and read the journal entry.

_November 21, 1978_

_My recent discoveries have lead me to the theory of being "cold". If a person was to be diagnosed of being "cold", they would've had to be bitten by a vampire, on a place on the victim's body with no major arteries. When a person goes "cold", they are stuck in the middle of life and death. They can not eat, drink, or sleep as a regular person, but they cannot die as a regular person will do in a course of time. Said victim is stuck in a forever limbo of eternal pain and longing, never to have it. Luckily however, a person has a one percent change of going "cold" after being bitten by a vampire. There have only been three cases, but the people who were cursed have gone missing long ago._

I slammed the journal shut, angry at the world. _One-percent... That small, almost impossible chance, happened to my brother. Just because I couldn't get over my stupid obsession with cute supernatural boys that they have in the movies and romance novels. _Dipper was still crying in the background as I continued to blame myself, rereading the entry over and over again until it was burned into my memory.

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><p>He was never the same since the incident, but so wasn't I. I never wore sparkly sweaters, I was never perky, I never really went outside anymore. I would even say I was more depressed then my brother, who was basically living in a forever hell. He continued to move on and try to make the best of his condition. He tried getting past the fact that he was starving, he could barely move, how he could barely do really anything. But he kept going, he wasn't broken. But I was. And when I took an outdoor stroll out in the forest, only because Grunkle Stan forced me to go get some fresh air, I walked back to that fateful clearing, full of decaying trees.<p>

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><p><strong>Hope you guys enjoyed it! Remember to check out DJ everything and her challenge if you want to! I didn't expect this one-shot to go for this long XD. Oh well. Please R &amp; R! Til' next time! Onwards Aoshima!<strong>


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